Panaracer is making a bold claim for Road Tubeless, saying their all-new EVO4 road bike line offers the lightest tubeless tire on the market. It’s the star and start of the new EVO4 series that they’re launching, available in 23, 25 and 28 widths. The 700×28 is just 240g, retail is $69.99 and they’re available end of May. And you’ll have casing and tread options depending on the type of riding you’re doing, plus a new sealant that uses ground walnut shells to help seal cuts. There’s goodies for gravel and mountain bike riders, too…
These will come in standard, non-tubeless clincher versions, too, and replace the EVO3. Only the Race A model has a tubeless option for now, but all Race A versions come with their puncture-protection layer Protite under the tread (read more about that below), and Race D gets Protite bead to bead with a little extra material throughout to enhance durability. Both A & D models use a smoother, more traditional road slick outer contact patch. The Race C also uses Protite and uses a fine-grain tread to add just a bit of wet weather performance.
Gravelking gets plussed, but not like that
There’s a new GravelKing+ is not “plus” sized. Rather, the “+” means there’s more reinforcement for better puncture protection without losing the suppleness people like about them. They use their Protite material in a bead to bead layer, then infuse an additional nylon breaker layer with ProTite and put that under the tread cap. They say Protite is ~2.5x more puncture resistant than Kevlar, and lighter. It only adds about 12g per tire, and about $5 more to the price. It’ll be an option for all 650b sizes and all 700c widths from 32 to 50. Available mid May for $54.99.
Behind it is a new sealant that uses ground up walnut shells, which they say react with the other ingredients to accelerate the flow of the material into the puncture hole, yet reduces how much it’ll spray out of the hole. They say it’ll seal up to a 6mm hole almost instantly.
Named Seal Smart, it’s labeled as low allergen, however the key ingredients are natural latex and walnuts, so presumably “low” means there’s only those two. And it has virtually no odor. Retail is $6.99 (4oz, good for two MTB tires) to $19.99 (16oz), available in May direct from Panaracer USA, with a larger shop size coming.
Panaracer (really, finally) ready to enduro
With their new Romero and Aliso enduro mountain bike tires, Panaracer wanted to hit two main design points: one that’s rounder and harder, and one that’s a bit more square edged and softer. The designs look familiar because they knew if their tread designs looked too far out there, people would skip over them. But the actual knob and pattern design is unique in subtle ways.
For the Romero, they wanted to improve the turn in speed to help you initiate a turn faster. They did this by giving the outer edge of the center knobs a larger, longer footprint with the ability to flex out and help transition onto the side knobs. From there, the side knobs follow the curve of the tire and have a sipe to help them mold around the terrain and move with you just a bit to extend the time it’s gripping. They say this gives them a more noticeable limit so you can reel it in before they’ll lose traction.
The Aliso is more square edged with softer rubber for terrain where you want to just let the tire dig into the ground. The center knobs sit a little taller to bite into soft dirt and loam. But they made them a little bigger, too, so there’s more platform for them to roll on when you’re on harder ground. The side knobs are well supported to add more cornering support when you do hit the harder dirt, too.
Both are 60tpi with 27.5 and 29er in 2.4 and 2.6, each with two casings. The ST (Super Tough) weighs 1150-1300g with a double reinforced casing bead to bead. HO (High Output) loses the extra reinforcement to come in between 800-900g. Prices from $59.99 to $64.99. All available by mid-May.
